- Coming up next on Curate, - I auditioned and this guy said, you don't need me, you don't need any of this.

You're ready to go to New York.

And that's what I did - When I really started realizing that, hey, I really like art, is when I was probably eight, nine years old, and confident because that was something I could do very easily and that was good for a kid growing up.

- Welcome back.

I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- And I'm Jason Kypros.

- Patrice Covington is an actress and singer known for her performances on film and on Broadway.

- Patrice is a proud alum of the Governor's School for the Arts, and as a new mom, she is busier than ever.

- That is right Jason.

She was recently named the new host of the Hampton Road Show and has appeared as a guest soloist with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

- Patrice Covington's talent and skills have always shined through, so it was no surprise to her fans when she captured the role of Squeak in the Broadway revival of the Color Purple.

It, however, was a bit of a surprise to Patrice that she was asked to audition for that role.

- Originally I was auditioning for one of the church ladies who would understudy Sophia.

I went in, I did my thing, and they say, can you come back at 12?

Sure, absolutely.

And then they say, well, we want you to look at the lines for Squeak.

Now Squeak is Harpo's girlfriend, you know, Harpo who that woman?

And I'm like, that role is silly for me to audition for every time that has ever been done in the history of that show, whether it be the book, the musical, the original musical, the movie has always been all the things I'll never be, which was small little figure, little petite, fair skin and curly hair, little ringlets.

I've never had any of that.

Why would I audition for that?

So now I'm mad like they're playing with me.

I would never get that.

But I went to my friend Christian's apartment, we rehearsed it for an hour.

I came back and that is the role that I opened up the Revival of The Color Purple, which is a Tony Grammy and Emmy award-winning show.

And it is how I got an Emmy for our performance on the Today Show.

- Her talent and acting skills long preceding that award-winning performance.

- I come from a very musical family.

Music was always around me.

My father actually was a trained and working classical artist opera singer.

He was the director of music at a church and then he also was a chorus teacher.

He taught all over Hampton Roads, and I remember one day he took me to a high school play and they were doing Peter Pan and I loved it.

I'll never forget it.

I have no idea how old I was, but young, like I would say under five.

- From that point on, Patrice was all in her journey, taking her from church plays to the Hurrah Players.

- I was a Hurrah Player with the world famous Hugh Copeland.

So Hugh Copeland really just cultivated the musical theater aspect of it is where I really began to learn about the history of Broadway and all the things that might be available to me.

- It was there that she learned about the Governor's School for the Arts.

- That is where it really began at Governor's school, being around like-minded, very talented youth from here who were eat, sleeping and breathing a musical theater.

I came out pre-professional from governor's school, and I'm also blessed enough to have had the spirit of Norfolk here.

Not only because I got to work there, but because I had to learn rejection there as well.

It was the first thing that I was ever rejected for, which of course, you know, in this business that I've done comes a dime a dozen and it wasn't nice rejection, it was hard.

I was always a thick little girl, a little curvy girl.

I'll never forget, I was 16 years old.

The man who was the director, he said, Patrice, I have never given anybody all tens.

That's the highest score you can get.

I've never given anybody that you are perfect.

You can't fit the costumes.

So I said, okay.

I said, okay.

But I went home, I told my mother, Rosalyn Covington now Roz said, I'm sure they can find something for you to do.

So she called Kevin Wallace and Kevin said, oh yes ma'am, I could find something for her to do.

And they created a position called a deck steward for me, and I was a host on the spirit of Norfolk, but I got to sing songs like the Electric Slide.

I gotta Move, come Lemme take you on a Party Ride and Learn Electric slide.

It was great.

The very next year I auditioned again.

There was these dresses that I couldn't fit previously.

They said, they're all a size eight, you can't fit 'em.

After what I had done, they said, forget those dresses, let's cut 'em in half.

They're shirts, now you're in, you're a performer.

And that was the beginning of my performance career.

- Patrice would go on to perform two summers at Bush Gardens and then at just 19 taking a job with Disney Cruise lines.

- And that's when I was really making big money, $750 a week.

I went on to that for many, many months.

I started actually doing what we now call bus and truck tours.

So I went on tour with a show called Beehive the sixties musical.

After that I worked at dinner theaters like in Pennsylvania and I used to go to this audition conference where you could audition for all of the regional theaters, cruise lines and that sort of thing.

In one spot I auditioned and this guy named Ryan Stana, I went to his callback and he said, how many callbacks have you been to yet?

I said, just you, you're my first one.

He said, good, don't go to anymore.

He said, you don't need me, you don't need any of this.

You're ready to go to New York.

And I was like, okay.

And that's what I did.

- That's when the Chesapeake Native began a series of Broadway national tours.

- My first Broadway national tour was Ain't Misbehaving, and it was the American Idol tour.

So I went on tour with Reuben Stuttered, Frenchie Davis, Trenyce Cobbins, David Jennings, and myself and WHRO.

I remember seeing Ain't Misbehaving on that station when I was a little girl all the time.

So to see Ain't Mr.

Haven like living through me now was so amazing.

I went on to do lots of other tours and Broadway shows.

I heard that The Color Purple was coming back to Broadway, had to audition - For Patrice.

The Color Purple has been the gift that keeps on giving.

- Every night I watch people's lives change right in front of us.

That show taught me that praise has no color, no experience.

It is just what it is.

I watch people become better, become different, become healed, become inspired, become changed every night.

We were very interactive with our audiences throughout the show and our last thing we say is Men in the Show.

And it is quiet and it is peaceful and it sounds like one voice.

And I'll watch people reach over and grab somebody's hand, somebody they did not know, somebody they had no idea about.

And it blessed us every single night and it will forever be my favorite show because of that reason.

It changed all of our lives - Need come from her work.

As a background singer for Jennifer Hudson would open up even more doors.

- I did a Vegas residency with Christina Aguilera and it was there that I was still auditioning for television.

I booked my very first television show as a series regular in Aretha Franklin's biopic for television called Genius Aretha.

I got to play her sister, who is her what background singer.

I feel so incredibly blessed and grateful and my dreams come true.

But I never dreamt of touring the world with Stevie Wonder.

I never dreamt of being in London in Hyde Park with Stevie Wonder as gazillions of people were cheering.

I never dreamt of Stevie Wonder calling my name to sing a song when he wasn't able to.

On stage, - COVID changed the practice of in-person auditions and Patrice found herself back home in Hampton Roads auditioning.

From here she credits former wavy TV news anchor al Vita Ell with connecting her with the executive producer of the Hampton Roads Show, who offered Patrice the opportunity to fill in for the show's host while she was on maternity leave.

That was in 2022.

- I called Stephanie when I got word that Tara was actually going to be leaving due to her husband getting new orders.

- We're gonna do a quick run through.

- And in July of 2025, she became the show's new co-host.

- I love being able to just be myself and I love that I bring hometown heart mixed with world experience and I can talk about anything with anybody at any time.

- While in Hampton Roads, Patrice has performed with the Virginia Symphony taught masterclasses at the Governor's School for the Arts and landed a role in a popular television show.

- Just recently did Chicago PD season 11 and recur in two of those episodes.

- And that's not all.

- While I've been home, I created a life here - I - Have a beautiful fiance, a beautiful infant.

Baby motherhood is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

It's like the best role of my life then I feel like I can do anything because I had her.

- There are many ways to get involved with WHRO from volunteering at events in the community to helping out at the station.

If you're interested, contact WHRO volunteer@wh.org - When a horrific accident took nearly everything from Roger Weeden.

The one thing he wouldn't let go of was his desire to make art.

- From our partnership with ODU Film students comes this hope inducing story of a man who overcame the odds to retain his connection to his family, to his community, and to his desire to create.

- I first started drawing when I was really young.

My grandmother still has drawings.

I drew Jesus on the cross.

It was like circle for a, for a head and a body.

When I really started realizing that, hey, I really like art is when I was probably eight, nine years old.

It made me relax and confident because that was something I could do very easily and that was good for a kid growing up.

I've had some of my art go to a college in China.

I've, I've completed like a large mural up in New York.

It's about three and a half stories tall, it said actual a small Grand Moses painting.

Some of my floor cloths went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

I did a painting in a salon and then someone saw that mural and they wanted me to paint another mural on the front of their hooker bar.

So above this hooker bar, I painted this mermaid and her hair flows and it turns into waves.

- At Christmas time, Roger's so artistic, my husband gave him a digital picture of our daughter's dog and Roger took the picture and created a pencil drawing of the dog that we had framed and gave her for Christmas.

It was beautiful and you know, that's what he's capable of doing.

- It's TVI, traumatic brain injury and I sustained that from kind of a freak accident.

In 1986, I was a junior, I was in my third year and I was excelling in college and a bunch of us friends decided to go up on top of the roof.

We were actually, we were drinking, there was beer involved and somehow, and I have no idea, and my girlfriend was with me, the two of us fell off the roof.

She fell two floors to overhang the roof and I fell four floors to the concrete.

But that one I the consonants, no I didn't.

Now one.

No, it's not.

- Tween is gonna work.

- No, it's, it was between - No, tween - Tween is like, is like a, like it is like a, - When he first got into his accident, he was in the first hospital for several months until he got out of his coma and then he went to a rehabilitation center at Sunnyview and then he came home where he was still recovering.

It was tough to watch your older brother have to go through that when he was in the hospital recovering, although he could not talk, walk, do any of that, he drew me a rose for my birthday.

So that was pretty awesome.

- I never lost my artistic ability, I just kept fighting to get back to where I was.

- He's played a big role in the community, but he is very involved in the church.

Numerous things going to help out homeless, whether he's delivering food or being at the church, helping with that organization of it, putting stuff together to send to victims.

He definitely does his part in the community.

- I've always helped out with churches.

If they needed some artwork done, I was there to help out and they knew who to call on.

But when I moved down here to Virginia Beach, I got more involved with, with going to church, more involved in my faith.

I've been here, I've been faithful servant every week, just about every Wednesday coming in.

- Roger's made a huge difference in the lives of everyone who receives food every Wednesday evening here at the church.

I think he's made a difference in the lives of our volunteers as well because he is different.

I mean he's, he's got a different personality, he's got a different way of talking.

He challenges people sometimes in ways that they're not used to and that's a good thing.

We need more Rogers in the world.

- Once you're an accident like that, you don't have to sit back and just accept what doctors tell you.

I was told that I would never walk or talk again and I beat, beat that kind of shoved them.

Don't give up if something happens to you.

Just try to just go beyond that.

Try to forget that bad part and keep going.

- Whether you were chasing ghosts in the arcade or cruising in your Camaro, we've got the tunes that powered your best memories.

This is listener and member supported, 88.7 WFOS Time Machine Radio.

- I am Kayda Plus and we are back on the road with Curate Presents this time at the Seven City Showcase in Virginia Beach.

Let's go inside and see what's going on.

Tell me about Seven City Showcase.

- The Seven City Showcase is a one night celebration of films that are made here in Virginia and across the east coast.

- How long has it been going on?

- It's been going on since 2018.

We took a year off during the pandemic, so around seven or eight years now I think.

- How's it changed over time?

- We've seen our filmmakers grow with talent because they come out, they come to the festival, they see the other films like how can I do Better this year is phenomenal.

Like you should see the films this year.

- Well I heard you guys say like this is the largest audience you pass far.

Yes, - Yep.

It's the largest audience we've ever had.

The tickets were phenomenal and they just keep growing and growing every year and I think it's a lot of filmmakers in the area like motivated to create something here.

- Okay, awesome.

So what makes this a creative hub for the community?

- It's a hub unlike any other as far as Tidewater opportunities because we're bringing in talent and also sharing the incredible work that's being made here with a larger audience than they might normally get.

- One of our rules is that we would have judges that would be working in the industry that weren't from Hampton Roads.

It was not bias at all.

So this is an opportunity for them to show their skills and like you get a professional person that's actually looking at the film, it's like, Hey, I like that cinematographer.

Let me get them, you know, on on my project.

- What do I have to do to submit my film to you?

- We have a website, seven cities shorts.com, seven cities shorts at Gmail.

You can reach out with any questions.

We have a film free site.

We try and keep the prices as low and accessible as possible.

We have discounts for students, we have discounts for local filmmakers and we accept short films under 10 minutes.

Any genre - Documentaries, music videos, animation.

I mean there's so much opportunity to film in this area and there's so much talent, so why not showcase that?

- Thank you guys so much for putting together an event like this.

- Oh yes.

- Thank you for having us.

It's our pleasure.

- And the winner is, - We are here with Riede Dervay, the director of Gilda.

We won so many awards, audience award, best director, best editing.

How do you feel about that?

- Well, I definitely didn't expect it, so I am very grateful and overjoyed and thankful for my grandma obviously.

- How special is it for you to have this moment in your hometown?

- It's incredibly special.

This is where it all started and you know, not just my life but also my filmmaking trajectory.

We're always growing and changing and like exploring who we are and I do love film as a way of doing that.

I think it, this has been a very transformative process for me.

- So thank you again for sharing so much of your family's history and this beautiful film.

- Thank you.

I really appreciate it.

- And now we get to check out the film, Gilda, - My name is Gilda Weber and I am 98 years old.

- My God.

Ugh.

- Hi.

- At WHRO Public Media, we believe in the power of local voices.

The Play Your Heart Out Fifth Annual music showcase is now accepting submissions from emerging solo artists and duos performing original music.

If you create and perform your own work and can bring it to life live using acoustic or electric instruments, we invite you to share it with us.

Learn more and apply at wro.org/events.

- Yeah, I just got the news.

I'm a wanted man now from the law, but strictly from my face.

They say you got the sound of people going.

Remember coming straight to about the Hampton Roast Virginia, but first there's some things you gotta go through.

The type of things that nobody can show you.

You gotta go and see it for yourself.

Sometimes it could be bad for your health.

Then I told them that, Ooh, tell 'em that I'm ready if I'm the one they won, tell them come and get it.

Oh no, I said, ooh, ooh, tell them that I'm ready if I'm the one they looking for, come and get it now.

You gotta breathe the law just to may the news.

They say that I'm a rebel because I breed the rules.

I got my automatic yet I got my two, I got no money.

You not got nothing to lose.

I'm tired of living life as a victim.

A victim, mud, this cruelly, wicked system.

Until I reach the top, I'm going steady and empty.

City looking for me.

Tell 'em that I'm ready.

Hey, I'm ready y'all.

If I'm the one, they won't tell them come and get at him.

Oh no.

I said, Ooh, ooh.

Tell them that already.

If I'm the one they looking for, come and get it.

Now you serve thousand grams just to be the man you hitting with that lingo.

They don't understand.

You say that getting money is your only mission to mess around and end up in a penitentiary.

Man, don't even know what is worse.

Be in jail.

All I know is I gotta get it.

So if they ask you if and with it, tell them that now.

Ooh, ooh, I'm ready y'all.

If I'm the one they want, tell him come and get at him.

No, I say, Ooh, tell him that I'm ready.

If I'm the one looking for, if I'm the one he looking for, if I'm the one he looking for, tell them coming.

Tell them coming.

Tell them coming.

Tell them coming.

Tell 'em come and get it, yeah - Man.

Watching Greg Gutty perform brings back memories of his segment in season six.

I love how he blends soul and reggae music and just sings from the heart.

- Absolutely.

And it's yet another example of how Curate is bringing you some of the most innovative artists in Hampton Roads.

- We've done so for 10 seasons now, - And yet it feels like we are just getting started.

- Very true.

We shall see you next time on curate.

- See you bring me joy when I see you face you the prettiest woman in a human race dog.

A girl like you just can't be replaced.

So I'll be sure to try not to make no mistakes.

I love how you don't give it up so easy.

Not sure enough if your body just to tease me, the type of woman I get, tick to me, my mama, she's the, only solution to my problems?

Say now.

Hey darling, you, but I've been waiting for, and I don't want no one but you.

And I hope you feel the same way too.

Hey darling.

Hey love.

I want hold you close every day.

Love.

Put your arms around my shoulders and make love.

Wanna be the one that you think of in the nighttime?

Baby don't leave.

I don't wanna be someone that you don't need.

So if you're ever in trouble, just call me baby.

I'm coming, baby, I'm coming running for you girl.

Hey darling, you, but I've been waiting for, and I don't want no one but you and I hope you feel the same way too.

Hey, darling said, waiting for, and I don't want no one but you and I hope you feel the same way too.

Hey darling.